It ain't no royal wulff

Just got a late night email from John saying that they caught some big fish on the Blackfoot today.  He reported that there were plenty of bugs in the air, but it sounds like double bead stones and streamers were the order of the day.  Not sure which section he was on, but it sounds like a good option.

A couple of our guides mentioned that the Bitterroot has been a little tough the past couple days, but it has dropped pretty heavily recently, so it will be interesting to see if it becomes a better option here very soon.

Rock Creek has been fishing well, but was a little tougher yesterday than it had been.  John floated on the upper reaches and the rises to dries were sporadic.  Not only that, but many of the fish were splashing onto the dry flies, leading to foul hooks.  There are a lot of caddis up here in the afternoon/evenings and the golden stone is still a good bet.  Look for some green drakes and we have heard some PMD’s, as well.

We had a guide on the Clark Fork above town recently and it was pretty good fishing for him with rubber leg stones, prince nymphs, etc.  They didn’t have much action on top.  We have had some folks coming into the shop having good luck with the evening caddis hatch on the Clark Fork below town.

Thank you for checking in.  We’ll keep doing our research.  It’s had work, but somebody has to do it.

Big fish still on the hunt on Big Blackfoot!

Thank goodness I proved myself wrong yesterday.  Looks like we will get yet at least a few more big fish days on the local rivers.  We fished the lower Bitterroot two days ago and it was much tougher that it has been – water clearing and dropping much to fast to concentrate the big ones.  The lower Clark was similar but the pmds and caddis are coming out now and they will fish fine again any day. The Blackfoot, however, fished great on Friday.  Salmon flies were everywhere (with fish actually eating them), sallies and goldens here and there.  The river was still green and even after the clouds burned off the big boys were still eating swinging streamers with beadheads and worms in tow.  Natural or tan bunnies topped the menu but olive sculpins were not far behind. We crushed them late in the day with a salmon fly dry dropping a MT prince or worm about 2feet below as insurance.  Plenty of boats on the water but many were just on the river pleasure drifting – no rods present.  Time to get out there.

If I caught it, why does he get to hold it?

John had a group from Kansas on the Clark Fork below town yesterday and they had some pretty good fishing.  I haven’t had the pleasure of speaking to the man himself, but I understand it was mostly a subsurface affair.  Not much in the way of dry fly fishing down there.  I will try to catch up with him tonight once he is off the river.

Rock Creek has been fishing very well with salmonfly and nymph droppers.  The pink worm hanging under a salmonfly tight to the bank has been hard to beat.  We have been mixing in some green drakes if things ever get picky on top.  John is floating from the confluence of the forks down to the concrete bridge today, so tonight we will have a good idea of how far up the creek the salmonflies are right now.  Some have been spotted around the concrete bridge.

All the graphs showed a bump in the flows yesterday from the recent rains.  Things look to be shaping back up again and all of the local rivers have been fishing well.  John had some folks up on the Blackfoot earlier this week and while he didn’t see salmonflies, the streamer fishing and nymphing was pretty darn good.  He didn’t have much company up there, either.  Just before that, he had some great fishing on the Bitterroot with the Jablonski group.  So, basically, pick a river at random and have a great time.

We will try to update here with the latest after we reports back from the guides on their trips today.  If you want to see some other photos from our recent trips click here.

I have a secret for you, and keep this on the down low, pteronarcys califonica has invaded Rock Creek.  It seems like everything wants a taste of this delicious morsel, and sometimes even a fish or two.

So buckle up your life jacket and go fish with someone who can row well (someone who falls into that “expert” status).  Or wade fish it, with a life jacket, felt boots and metal spikes.  The creek is fast and furious, but fishable.  Just be careful, as the outlaw Josey Wales once said, “Dyin’ ain’t much of a living.”